


this time they hold their gaze for too long

by lanyon



Series: i've got your blood under my fingernails [17]
Category: Marvel Avengers Movies Universe, The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Community: ccbingo, M/M, hawkeye - it's not a toy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-02
Updated: 2012-03-02
Packaged: 2017-11-01 00:52:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/350179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lanyon/pseuds/lanyon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Barton and Stark barge into Coulson’s office, laughing like maniacs and wielding miniature versions of themselves. Here’s Hawkeye with fully functional bow (not suitable for children under 36 months of age due to choking hazard) and here’s Iron Man with an LED for an arc reactor for a heart.</p><p>They ask if he wants them and he waves them away, <i>get out of my office</i>. Barton looks sad and Stark says they’re the best toys ever and Coulson says why would he want toys when he can play with the full-size version any day of the week?</p>
            </blockquote>





	this time they hold their gaze for too long

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sirona](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sirona/gifts).



> For [sirona](http://archiveofourown.org/users/sirona/pseuds/sirona), because we all have bad days and people do suck. Apart from Clint and Phil. Who might suck but it's on their own terms.

Barton and Stark barge into Coulson’s office, laughing like maniacs and wielding miniature versions of themselves. Here’s Hawkeye with fully functional bow (not suitable for children under 36 months of age due to choking hazard) and here’s Iron Man with an LED for an arc reactor for a heart.

 

They ask if he wants them and he waves them away _, get out of my office_. Barton looks sad and Stark says they’re the best toys ever and Coulson says why would he want toys when he can play with the full-size version any day of the week?

 

“I thought I was more than a posable action figure to you, sir,” says Barton and he throws himself onto the couch.  

 

Stark takes that as his cue to leave, which is uncharacteristically discreet of him.

 

Coulson rests his elbows on his desk and steeples his fingers together. Barton looks at him, his eyelids heavy, like he’s sleepy or sulky. His feet are up and his action figure is dangling from one hand and he looks sublimely relaxed, in the way of any apex predator.

 

“Why does Deputy Director Hill always wear her field suit and you always wear a regular suit?”  
  
Coulson smoothes down his tie. “Don’t you like my suits, Barton?” He’s got anecdotal evidence to prove otherwise.

 

“Sir.”

“Personal preference,” says Coulson, relenting.  

 

“I like you in your field suit,” says Barton. There’s something mournful in his tone.

 

“Then it is your poor luck that you work for an Initiative that’s generally effective enough as to render my field skills unnecessary.” Coulson pauses. “And that’s not an excuse to be anything less than extraordinary in future missions, Agent Barton.”  
  
Barton’s too busy making his action figure shoot and lamenting Coulson’s sartorial choices to notice slight smile on Coulson’s face.

 

“Why are you here?”

 

“I’m bored.”  
  
And, like that, there is stony silence and Barton tries to take it back but it’s probably too late and everyone knows what happened the last time an Avenger said that he was bored (it was Stark and he still has the scars) and, as if on cue, the telephone rings.  As if on cue, it is Hill and, as if on cue, it’s some sort of Hammer-von Doom collaboration and Barton’s already trying to say that it’s not his fault.

 

To be fair, Stark and Banner do most of the hard work. They seem to take it personally when evil geniuses go on the rampage. Coulson wonders if it’s a misdirected defence of geniuses but he won’t complain. These sorts of bad guy alliances tend to generate more paperwork than they’re worth but Stark and Hulk are so efficient that, before they know it,  Hammer’s in custody and it’s time to be debriefed.

 

Out of the ashes of this mission, another objective is born. There’s tech that likely originated in Latveria, which always sounds like a made-up country but apparently it isn’t. SHIELD and Stark Industries want to find out how it fell into Hammer’s hands and Hammer’s not talking.

 

It’s the sort of recon mission that requires stealth and deep cover, which generally means that the Widow and Hawkeye are the first choice operatives. It’s an occupational hazard, existing in the shadows of the giants of Captain America and Iron Man, who are recognised pretty much anywhere in the world. Barton says maybe he should do some kind of centrefold spread to up his exposure and Fury sent round a memo about SHIELD agents exposing themselves.

 

The mission prep is time-consuming. Coulson and Barton pass each other in the corridors or find fifteen minutes to sit side by side in the canteen and drink coffee while Barton eyeballs the interns and calls odds on who’ll be the first to crack. This month, it’s a tie between the tall skinny guy who jumps at loud noises and the blonde girl who looks as though she’s on the verge of tears. Coulson reckons it’ll be the quiet one, who looks so relaxed that he’s clearly in over his head.

 

Barton sprawls next to him, his foot nudging against Coulson’s, and says that being laidback is not the same as being unprepared. Coulson laughs, his hand briefly touching Barton’s leg under the table, before he picks up the latest report from Stark.

 

Stark’s reports are becoming increasingly hostile. He doesn’t like Hammer. He writes that at the start and end of each report. Hammer doesn’t like Stark. He says that at every hearing. The difference is that Stark will be the better man, though it’s easy to be the better man when he has the better tech (and the better action figure, as he likes to point out to all who will listen).

 

The day Barton and Romanov are due to leave, Barton stops by Coulson’s office, as though they didn’t have breakfast in bed at 4.30am, because it was the only opportunity in four weeks (and for the foreseeable future) to do something conventionally romantic (though it’s hard to be romantic when Clint drips maple syrup everywhere).

 

“You wanted to see me, sir.”

 

Coulson nods and slides a card towards Barton. “Memorise that and destroy it.”  
  
On the card are two numbers. One is a cell phone number and the other is a not-quite random sequence of letters and numbers. Barton looks at the card and looks back at Coulson.  
  
“This wasn’t in the mission file, sir,” he says, a little slowly.  
  
From the way his eyes flick back and forth, Coulson knows that Barton has already absorbed the number. He couldn’t forget it now if he tried.

 

“It’s a phone number, sir.”

 

“Technically, it’s a voicemail service and that’s the password.”  
  
Barton raises his eyes and looks at Coulson with a steady sort of focus, like he’s expecting everything to become a great deal clearer.

 

Coulson manages a smile. “You’re going to be gone a while, Clint,” he says, his voice soft and maybe a little vulnerable. “This is to – keep in touch. Outside mission parameters.” He clears his throat. It’s unnerving to be between the crosshairs. “It’s just – you can leave messages on it. It’s untraceable to you or to me. And I can leave messages on it for you. The password is-“  
  
“-ridiculous.” Barton smiles then and he doesn’t say anything about how this is more romantic than maple syrup on his skin and on the sheets.

 

“It’s not an emergency contact,” says Coulson. “If there are issues, use the regular extraction protocol.”

 

Barton nods, as though he doesn’t know this already. He hands the card back to Coulson who rips it up and burns it in an empty coffee mug.

 

“You know where you’re going, Barton?”

 

“I do, sir. Head to the Balkans and turn left and you know Natasha’ll make me stop for directions if I get lost.”  
  
Coulson smiles and stands up. He touches his fingertips to Barton’s and then Barton is gone.

 

It’s strange how quiet SHIELD gets when Barton’s not there, for all that he exists in the shadows of Iron Man and Captain America. Coulson thinks that even Stark and Rogers get spooked in Barton’s absence and every day they will ask for intel and Coulson will shrug and say, simply, that Barton and Romanov won’t get lost. 

**Author's Note:**

> +Title from _I'll See Your Heart And I'll Raise You Mine_ by Bell X1.  
>  +For the Bingo Prompt, "sharing passwords".  
> +To Feels, I love you all.  
> +Finally, to my wonderful, wonderful readers: I'm so sorry for the delay in getting to this. Life, as is his wont, has thrown some shit my way this past little while so I'm only just beginning to stick my head above the ramparts again. I love you all too, though.


End file.
